


Chimera

by dragonofdispair



Series: Roads [33]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-01
Updated: 2008-05-01
Packaged: 2018-02-26 18:45:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2662484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonofdispair/pseuds/dragonofdispair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>More Decepticons? We kinda expected that. Another Autobot? Great! Now if only we could find him...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chimera

Remaining undetected during atmospheric entry was harder and more stressful than all the time following his target before that. But Mirage had been made to watch, to remain undetected. By no stretch had it been easy, but planetary landing was not a reason to loose track of his target -- not in his own mind.

Which was why he was ready to rip out his own wires in frustration. He'd followed Soundwave through deep space, kept track of him while landing on this dustball of an organic planet, only to watch him be carried out of Mirage's sensor range by a flight capable Decepticon.

But there was nothing he could do about it. His protoform certainly couldn't keep up with a group of even burdened seekers -- and even if he could, the scans he'd taken of this planet form orbit indicated a large amount of water, which the seekers were headed right toward and Mirage couldn't follow them over. So, fuming, he took scans and made notes on the group of Decepticons. Three seekers -- he noted the colors -- another who was either a fourth seeker or a triplechanger -- treads on his primary form were making Mirage lean toward triplechanger -- one of the two Cassetticons Soundwave had been missing, and of course Soundwave himself with the three Cassetticons he'd had with him.

Then the sensor blips that were the Decepticons vanished off the edge of Mirage's scanning radius, well out into the water. He needed to report to his commander.

Find an alt form first, Mirage reminded himself, then report. There was always the chance -- almost a guarantee -- that Soundwave would be able to track the transmission to it's source and Mirage would need the ability to be far from here when the Decepticons started searching.

He went back to the nearby dark knot of vehicles and equipment where Soundwave had found his new form. He hadn't scanned one earlier because doing so would have alerted the Decepticon to his presence. Now he ran his sensors over each vehicle critically. Most were too big. Mirage wasn't a mini-bot, but he was a bit smaller, and had much less mass, than the average warrior-built. He was much less massive than even most spy models -- including most mini-bots. There were a few, though, small enough. All were similar in form and function -- low slung and compact, built for speed on smooth ground and probably utterly useless off roads. Still they were the right size, and they were here -- Mirage wouldn't have to go searching for them, spending time he should be using to update his commander on the situation.

So he transcanned the one he liked the best, ignoring the vehicle's paint scheme in favor of his preferred blue and white. Instead of transforming directly back to primary form, he test drove it a bit, getting used to it. He made a short annoyed sound from his engine -- the undercarriage was entirely too low, even on this planet's roads there were uneven spots scraping at him. When he did transform back, a bit of distance from both the vehicles and equipment and the landing sites, he sent out a subspace transmission to his ship's last coordinates -- he'd been equipped with long range subspace transmitters when his commander had realized that he might have to follow Decepticons out of standard range of the ship.

It took a breem for all the encryption and codes to match up, but soon enough he could hear his commander's order to "Report."

"I followed Soundwave and his three Cassetticons to the third planet of the star at these coordinates," Mirage sent them. "Unfortunately I lost them after landing when they joined with another group of Decepticons and were carried over one of the expanses of water  that cover most of this planet. I saw four fliers -- three confirmed seekers and one probable triplechanger -- as well as one of Soundwave's missing Cassetticons. They spoke of at least one more seeker."

"Confirm your location."

Slightly confused Mirage sent the star's coordinates again, this time accompanied by the orbital coordinates of the third planet.

"Fragging Pit! What are the chances...?" One of the unit's two warrior-builts cut into the channel. 

"Uncountable," the medic/scientist answered, "Though the presence of the Cassetticon does --"

"That was rhetorical, you --"

"If you please," the commander overrode them, "I doubt Mirage has much time before this transmission is tracked. Mirage," he turned his attention back to the spy, "Prime has sent a recall to his location. The coordinates match those for your location. I want you to report to his unit. Tell him that Soundwave is there. Update him to our status -- we are alive, our last venture was a victory, and we will head to his location as soon as we are finished here. Unfortunately at this time, I cannot tell you when that will be. Then stay with his unit unless he orders otherwise."

"Yes, Sir."

"Until all are one, Mirage."

"Until all are one, Sir."

"Don't have too much fun witho--" The warrior was cut off as the commander shut down the ship's long range com.

Mirage didn't dwell on it. He needed to move before anyone came to investigate. This time he appreciated his new alt mode's speed, even if it's lack of clearance was painful in places. He stopped as the sun was coming over the planet's horizon. Organics and their vehicles were starting fill the roads and twice he'd had to engage his invisibility to escape organics attempting to corner him. It was just his luck that he'd choose something conspicuous enough to warrant capture just by being present. But after that dash away from his transmission site, he'd decided he liked this vehicle's speed.

Still invisible, he transformed and left the road. He'd travel during the night cycle, when there wasn't anyone around to notice his alt form. As soon as he knew where he was going. He watched the vehicles as he logged onto the information network he'd noticed as soon as he'd lifted his communications black out protocols, looking for any sign of Prime and his unit.

And found a pocket of information that had to be there for any new Autobots arriving. No location, and the only names were those of Decepticons known to be on the planet. In addition to the four mechs and drone he'd seen, there was another seeker and one ground vehicle. The fourth seeker was Starscream, and Mirage almost contacted his ship again to tell his commander that the Decepticon second in command -- effectively the commander while Megatron had been lost -- was here. This pocket also contained several languages, some maps -- and a data-net location for more -- and a list of what protocols were in effect.

He spent the day sifting through the humans' internet for signs and rumors of Autobot presence. He couldn't get into the military network -- at least not without a hard line connection -- but there were other signs humans had noted -- mostly rumors of "haunted" vehicles that drove themselves and warped accounts of battles -- even if they didn't know what they meant. Which it looked a bit like they did. Or at least quite a few knew about the Decepticons and had speculated about allies against them.

North of here, he decided, and a bit to the west, probably a seven day drive -- less with his speed.

He also made sure to find out why his alt form was so conspicuous. Apparently racecars only drove on tracks used for sporting events and were illegal on normal streets. Well, Mirage wasn't going to scan a new form now. He wasn't a troublemaker like the two warriors he served with, but he wasn't going to let some miniscule organic decide his alternate form for him. Besides he liked the speed. But he would stay invisible so he didn't attract extra attention.

Both running sensor bafflers and Mirage invisible, neither Mirage nor the yellow Camaro noticed when they passed each other two days later.

 

888

 

"Prime, I found the transmission site. Evidence of transformer activity, faction unknown, but most likely mixed."

"Elaborate, Bumblebee."

"Three landing craters, one just outside average sensor range of the other two, which are very close together. Foot prints from the two close together indicate one mech and one bipedal drone, they acquire alts and then move off. Where they stay for at least an hour based off the drone's pacing. There's also evidence that the mech was carrying at least one creature drone -- a quadruped. Footprints from the third crater go directly the other landing sight, and track the two 'bots to their location. They're joined by four fliers -- unknown if those are Decepticons already on Earth or 'bots that just landed elsewhere. The mech and the two drones are carried off by the fliers. The watcher then finds his own alt form, moves off, transforms to primary, then transforms again, this time driving at high speed. Tracks are lost when he finds a paved road. No way to know where he went after that."

"Recent experience may tell us that Autobot drones are not impossible, but most likely they are Decepticons."

"Yes, Sir. And Autobot fliers would have no reason not to announce their presence before landing. While an Autobot spy following a group of Decepticons would have a very good reason."

"True. There's no way to track him?"

"No. I did find some recent police reports of an unmarked blue racecar though."

"We'll keep an optic out for one, then. Unless you think there's anything else to find there, you're free to come back."

"Yes, Sir."

 

888

 

It took five days for Mirage to get used to the constant communications clutter on this planet. During that time he felt no subspace transmissions. Most Autobot units wouldn't go very long without chattering at each other, and, while he wouldn't feel short range transmissions until he was practically in their presence, at least one scout should have been sent to investigate the source of the interstellar transmission near the landing site and reported back. He'd been hoping he could used the report transmission to narrow down where he was searching.

Grumpy, he parked himself in a ravine, out of sight of any humans, to get some real recharge without running his invisibility, though he dialed the sensitivity on his proximity scanners all the way up. 

He woke when the desert began cooling around him with clearer processors. Idly, he went through the human communications. He wasn't a communications expert, but even a cursory look told him the most likely reason for the lack of a long range subspace transmission -- the encryption on human cell phones was horrible, but there were so many that the Autobots had probably decided to hide their communications on those frequencies. If they'd done so, sorting out an Autobot conversation from the millions of human ones would be a task even the most proficient communications specialist would find more daunting than any amount of encryption, like tracking a dust mote in a nebula.

Which certainly didn't help Mirage. He didn't want Soundwave to find out who had followed him -- the 'Con wasn't stupid, he'd figure it out the moment he broadcast in the open to tell Prime he was here. Then he'd contact other Decepticons to make trouble for the rest of his unit. He needed to actually find the other Autobots. As it was the 'Con probably knew he'd been followed, but couldn't know where he'd picked up the tail.

Well, this was the place that highest concentration of "haunted" vehicle sightings, of at least three different vehicles. As well as a few other signs ranging from speculation that two specific jets overflew the area frequently to an old police report of a teenager who'd claimed his car had stood up. Tranquility, California...

 

888

 

"Anyone?"

"Nothing blue, racecar shaped, or even particularly odd. He probably dropped that alt for something less noticeable."

"Or found a way to hide even with it."

"Oh, c'mon Bumblebee. That's not possible. Trying not to be seen by the humans is like trying not to drive through sand."

"Maybe for you, Cliffjumper, but I've snuck into Decepticon territory with my current paint job."

"Yeah, well, we all know the slagging 'Cons couldn't find their own --"

"This is getting fragging ridiculous. Bumblebee, are you sure he'd be coming here?"

"Do I look like a telepath, Ironhide? But I do know that someone who hasn't figured out how to mimic an Earth IP address has been pinging internet sights that mention everything the residents notice of our presence, and that the same person has pinged sites that mention Tranquility more than any other."

"That's --"

"All of you be quiet."

...

"The Aerialbots also report no sign of a blue racecar in the vicinity. I'm afraid that until he contacts us, there isn't anything we can do."

"We could just call for him on an open channel."

"And broadcast his presence when he might be following a Decepticon?"

"Just saying."

"No. We'll wait."

 

888

 

He wasn't sure if the jets were Autobots or Decepticons. So when they started flying over the area regularly, he made sure he stayed invisible.

By this time though, he was almost certain he'd identified the Autobot ground vehicles. He'd been lucky. Only one had the Autobot insignia displayed so it was easily seen in alt form. Mirage had followed that one where he could and watched to see who and what he associated with. At this close range they were easy to pick up as transformers on his scanners, since Autobots generally didn't have shields and no one ran bafflers unless actively hiding. The only discrepancy was the Decepticon drone the largest seemed to carry around with him, but the drone never made any threatening motions either to the other Autobots or to the humans that often seemed nearby. And the semi-truck also an Autobot symbol, more discrete than the yellow-green vehicle, as a small emblem on the truck's grill. After spotting the drone, Mirage had checked that.

He'd almost gotten caught by the yellow one, which wouldn't have gone well for him. But it did pay off in that the two humans had mentioned a gathering soon at that "look out". Mirage had no idea where the look out might be, but he just switched to following the yellow-green one who wore his symbol openly until the gathering took place.

 

888 

 

Ratchet was the last to arrive, as always. This time it was only be a few minutes, but sometimes he would wait for half an hour or more just to make sure he was the last. He did it to be perverse. It was another expression of his grumpy and contradictory self. If he'd served any other commander he would have been written up for insubordination over a dozen times since landing on this planet alone. Instead Optimus just spared his medic an amused look.

At least he was amused until Scorponok darted away from where he was soliciting attention from the group of humans on the picnic blanket and hissed at the Hummer. No, Optimus amended the thought as the scorpion darted around Ratchet to rattle-hiss again, something behind Ratchet. Weapons made their appearances around the group. Even Cliffjumper spared them his usual suspicions -- even a Decepticon spy wouldn't warn them about something that wasn't there. Ratchet got himself out of the lines of fire before transforming himself.

Scorponok hissed a bit louder, the sound accompanied by the whir of his cannons powering up and the harsh metallic sound of readying his tail. A shimmer in the air where the drone was focusing and a blue and white racecar faded into view. And waited.

When the newcomer made no move, aggressive or otherwise, Optimus thrummed his engine to call Scorponok over, away from the blue car. When Scorponok obeyed, Optimus addressed the racecar, in Cybertonian overlaid with English for the benefit of the humans -- Will Lennox at least had an anti-tank gun and might start shooting if he didn't know what was going on. "You may transform and explain."

The new 'bot was a little bit bigger than Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, and very lightly armored with most of his mass being infrastructure rather than armor. The Autobots relaxed a bit, and when Captain Lennox didn't Optimus figured out why. The humans couldn't see it, but the blue and white mech's posture was subtly submissive.

"Which language do you wish me to use?" He answered in the same Cybertonian overlaid with English Optimus had used.

"English, please."

"Yes, Sir," he answered in that language alone. " I am Autobot Mirage, reporting to Optimus Prime." His optics flicked around, as though not one hundred percent sure he was actually addressing the Prime.

"Please verify."

Identification codes flowed through communications channels. Optimus opened a private channel to his unit's current com officer. "Bumblebee?"

"Looks authentic. If he'd transmitted this before landing we'd have no reason to question it."

Nodding, he showed his acceptance of the identification by transmitting his own, the other Autobots doing the same, all introducing themselves. The acceptance seemed to relax Mirage, as he shifted his posture from subtly submissive to something more confident.

"Continue," Optimus told the blue mech.

"I was following a Decepticon communications officer -- Soundwave, I suppose, in this language --"

"Was wondering when that fragger would show up," Ironhide grumped, spinning his cannons in a manner Optimus thought Mirage was taking as aggressive, from the looks, but was really just slightly bored.

"I was operating under blackout protocols. I didn't know there were any Autobots here until I reported back to my unit. Almost immediately upon landing Soundwave and his Cassetticons met up with Decepticons already here and flew away. I do not know why he is here, though from Ironhide's comment, you do..."

Optimus answered, "Frenzy was killed here. We've been expecting Soundwave since before Laserbeak arrived with Blitzwing." He paused. "You said you reported to your unit. They're alive?"

"Yes. They will answer your recall as soon as they're finished where they are."

Relief flooded Optimus at that, and only his own control kept it from overwhelming him. Alive! Alive! This war may have destroyed they're first home, their place of origin, even the Allspark itself. But this, more than even Cliffjumper's and the Aerialbots' arrivals assured him that there was hope. Cliffjummper's coming had of course been welcome and inspiring, but he had been separated from his team and the only one of them he knew the fate of was dead. The Aerialbots of course knew their bothers lived, but nothing of their status.

But this, a team -- a whole, alive team -- had received his message and was coming. And if there was one, there were likely others.

Recognizing the effect this news had had on his leader, Ironhide spoke up. "Come over here kid." Mirage looked uncertain, glancing between Ironhide and the still stunned Optimus. "Bumblebee, you wanna get ta calling out contacts and telling them the news. A -- Mirage do you have any visuals of the fragger and his Cassetticons since they landed? And I told you ta come here. Don't worry about him," he gestured to Optimus, "he won't mind."

With a last uncertain glance at Prime, Mirage straightened almost arrogantly and stepped toward the warrior-built. "Of course I took images of Soundwave and his Cassetticons when they scanned new forms. I am not an amateur,"

Optimus listened to his Autobots making plans, contacting various people, discussing which of the communications protocols would now go in effect now that the Decepticons had an actual communications officer. Optimus felt no need to interfere. Ironhide was a good planner, though didn't always see the more subtle options. Bumblebee would cover the warrior's weakness in that regard and was very clever himself. Ratchet would keep them both from going overboard and from making assumptions. Optimus sank back to his sitting position and just watched them. Right now Optimus just wanted to let his spark hum with its joy.

Scorponok, after one last suspicious chirp in Mirage's direction, climbed up to perch on Optimus's knee and solicit petting. Optimus smiled at the thought of Scorponok being secure enough to be suspicious instead of suspected.

The news of a new group of very dangerous enemies aside, this was a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> note: there are three connotations to the word "chimera" used in this piece, each connotation referring to a different main character. they're obscure enough that i feel like sharing. the first is soundwave (or more specifically his entire cassetticon unit) as a monstrous entity comprised of parts from different animals. the second is "chimera" as a synonym for "mirage". the third is a lesser used definition of "chimera" as "a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve" and refers to optimus's formerly impossible hope that the autobots had and would continue to survive.
> 
> new 'bot alt forms:
> 
> Mirage -- Ligier JS43 race car. Blue and white, without any advertisements or markings
> 
> Soundwave -- 2010 KIA Soul (a very high tech SUV) that's been heavily modified to have a set of huge speakers instead of cargo space. His primary form to alt form mass ratio is correct, but his new alt form doesn't have the space to carry his cassettes. Color is very dark blue.
> 
> Rumble -- 2008 Harley-Davidson VRSCDX in purple. A very pretty bike.
> 
> Frenzy of course was a very tiny silver CD player and is now deceased
> 
> Buzzsaw, Laserbeak, and Ravage scanned local creatures and don't have alt forms...
> 
> Laserbeak -- he was with Blitzwing when he landed in Russia and ended up a Russian gyrfalcon. He's about half the size of Scorponok.
> 
> Buzzsaw -- a black-shouldered kite (a bird of prey native to the texas area, which is where they all landed) the same size as Laserbeak.
> 
> Ravage -- a black colored puma a bit smaller than Scorponok.


End file.
